I've Suffered With The Shanks For A Year And My Golf Game Is In Tatters. Can Anything Help?

They’re called the ‘unmentionables’ for a reason. No one wants to hear about a shot that shoots off at a 45-degree angle; one that has the potential to not only wreck your card, but your love of the game, and, without wishing to sound overly dramatic, your sanity. Yes, the shanks are that bad.

Last summer, just as I was busy filling my calendar with golf, I hit one of these 45-degree shots. A one off, I thought, a hiccup, a freak shot. Then it happened again. And again. And again. In a state of panic, I went to the range. I shanked a whole bucket of balls. A couple of people practising nearby looked away in horror. I remember laughing. I must have looked a little like Jack Nicholson in The Shining.

There are some shots that you can play with. If you’re duffing your chips, for example, you can find a way around it – try a bump-and-run, perhaps, or get the putter out. How do you play with a shank? Quite simply, you cannot. It becomes an achievement just to finish a hole, and it spreads like a nasty virus, infecting every part of your game.

I’m not alone, am I?

After my initial, let’s call it ‘short-term illness,’ I was fortunate to spend 45 minutes working with PGA professional, Richie Marsden, who set me up with a drill. I’d set up as normal, but instead of addressing the ball, I’d start my backswing from a second one placed a few inches to the outside, before striking the ‘normal’ ball (the ball closest to me). It was, he stressed, “a quick fix”, one that might allow me to enjoy an upcoming golf trip to Morocco. That's all I wanted. 

Wow. It worked. Immediately. A dozen balls and no shanks. I skipped away from the driving range and for the best part of a year didn’t endanger anyone standing just off to the side of me. No one’s head/torso/shins/ankles required medical attention. I even started to feel like the single figure golfer my England Golf app was telling me I was.

A year on and they’re back. The drill that had served me so well before no longer has the desired effect. It was a band aid. Things came to a head when I accumulated 17 points in a midweek Stableford, after which I hit pretty much a full bucket of balls sideways into thick rough. The Jack Nicholson grin and the mad laughter was back.  

I had two options: embark on a series of lessons, and do all the range work required to get me through to the other side; or pack it in. Option two was given serious consideration, as was taking up bowls. This game is addictive, though. It’s just too enjoyable.

Option one it was. My first lesson with Golf Monthly Top 50 Coach, Ged Walters, was an eye-opener. The cause of my shanks is mostly down to poor fundamentals and a lack of weight shift. It appears that I have become very hunched over the ball, and I'm squatting. My knees have become bent, not slightly flexed as they should be, and I've stopped sticking my backside out. Somewhere along the way, I've got into some pretty bad habits. 

I watched a slo-mo of one of my many shanks and it became more obvious what was wrong. It’s not just my fundamentals that are causing issues – it’s the lack of weight moving forward (think of a lateral slide) with the lead knee/hip as I start my downswing and come into impact. 

Seeing that I wasn’t able to get my weight forward without turning my hips, Ged put me in a position where I would set up to the ball with most of the pressure forward, with my trail foot pulled back. From there, I hit some balls and was amazed to see, with the help of a sharpie, my strike location moving away from the hosel further towards the center.

Playing competitive golf, or social golf for that matter, is currently banned. To rid my game of the shanks for good is going to “require discipline,” as Ged says. I need to rehearse my set-up time and time again in front of the mirror. Every day. And I need to work on my drill before hitting balls from a ‘normal’ 60/40 address position.

I won’t be taking up bowls. Not quite yet.